1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to radiotelephones, and more particularly to a radiotelephone having a user interface module.
2. Description of the Related Art
Advances in computing, wireless transceivers, displays, input devices, batteries, materials and mechanics have promoted the miniaturization and weight reduction of portable communication devices, such as cellular and cordless radiotelephones. A user interface portion of a portable radiotelephone typically includes a display, a keypad, an earpiece transducer and a microphone transducer. Conventional radiotelephones construct the user interface portion using one or more molded plastic housings to provide a structure for mounting and retaining a display lens, the keypad, the earpiece transducer and the microphone transducer. Wires from the earpiece transducer and the microphone transducer are routed through the housing for attachment to a printed circuit board. However, as portable communication devices become smaller and lighter, the structure of a conventional portable radiotelephone user interface portion of a radiotelephone inhibits size and weight reductions of the portable radiotelephone. Moreover, physical changes to the user interface portion of the portable radiotelephones to promote differentiation in the consumer market have a relatively limited number of arrangements and are time consuming to implement in production.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved structure for the user interface portion of a portable communication device yielding size and weight reductions. Additionally, the improved structure should improve manufacturability, reduce cost and offer a variety of market differentiation options with minimum design cycle time.